The 1st Anniversary Bash celebrating StarTrek.Com.My's first year birthday had been in the wind for about a month before formal preparations began. Most of us at the forums had already been hyped up at the possibility of another big meet in a public place.  Some were excited about coming in uniform and bringing their collectibles to the meet. 

Selecting a meeting place was quick enough. Richard put forth the idea of watching a movie and then having dinner at GSC's brand new cineplex at 1 Utama. The idea was quickly mooted by the other members and a decision on time was reached.

The evening was to have begun with a first movie slot followed by dinner and then a second movie slot. Those of us who could not make it for the movie after dinner could watch the movie first.

The first movie was attended by me (Altie), Orchidas and her friend and Vold. The movie that was picked for this gathering was "Stealth".

(MOVIE SPOILER AHEAD)

"Stealth", the new movie from director Rob Cohen, the same director who made movies like "The Fast and The Furious", "XXX" and "Dragonheart", brought together a mix of action and high-flying suspense to the silver screen. The premise of the movie is simple; 3 ace pilots are in a top secret military project that involves 3 high speed stealth fighter/bombers that are capable of making surgical airstrikes without ever being detected by the enemy. The twist comes in when they get news of a new wingman; an artificially intelligent UCAV or Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle.

The UCAV even has it's own name and voice. It's called EDI or Extreme Deep Invader. It has a personality not unlike Star Trek's very own Data. It has a learning processor and even a "neural net". Uncanny how Star Trek can affect the movie making industry. :-)

However, unlike Data, the EDI UCAV is built to destroy. During a landing attempt in stormy weather, the UCAV is hit by a bolt of lightning. While the premise of this happening AND disrupting the UCAV's neural net is actually quite slim in real life, it happens and causes havoc in the movie.

As it progresses, the commanding officer of the team refuses to withdraw the UCAV from active duty and pushes it into another mission. This results in the UCAV putting it's 3 human wingmen in danger and puts the United States in the world's spotlight as a ruthless killing machine.

The movie stars Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and recent Oscar winner Jamie Foxx as the 3 ace pilots of the US Navy. Supporting cast are Sam Shepard and Joe Morton. Shepard and Morton are veterans of the screen and no strangers to military type roles. They handle their parts with fluidic precision. Lucas, Biel and Foxx are mostly eye-candy as to what the military ace pilots can be, looks and intelligence. But they execute their acting admirably as well.

Digging into the cake.  Looks like an empty spot for Fleet Captain jas not able to make it for the event

 

After the movie, the four of us headed over to the Glitters cafe to meet up with the rest of the gang for dinner. Richard and a friend were the only ones there and had already set up the table configurations for the group. Soon after we arrived, many more Trekkies started popping up.

Before we knew it we had a big group going, all socialising amongst ourselves and Richard decides to go collect the cake. The cake was purchased from Secret Recipe and was a cheesecake type. Contributions for the cake was allocated at 4-5 ringgit per Trekkie. The cake had one candle denoting StarTrek.com.my's first birthday, and on the cake was written "Happy Birthday StarTrek.com.my". The cake was delicious.

Everyone ordered dinner and had a merry time, mixing food with talk and jokes, peppered with the occasional photo taken here and there. Orchidas, Ezli and Richard had brought along their digital cameras (toys for geeks) and were busy snapping away at the merriment.

Soon it came time for the second movie slot at 9pm and while most were headed for the cinema for their dose of "AI-gone-mad", the four of us had to go home and some of us were only here for dinner. All in all, it was a pleasant dinner because we got to meet with some new faces, some old faces and some faces we haven't seen in awhile.

Some came in uniform, like Ezli arriving in full uniform, and Richard who put on a sweater tunic whilst during the party. Most of us however arrived in civilian clothing, but were proud of those who did come in uniform.

Celebrating our first year as the group of Trekkies who represent Star Trek in Malaysia was a blast. There was only one sad moment in the entire party and that was remembering that James "Montgomery Scott" Doohan had passed away less that 10 days ago and was now in the Great Beyond. We enjoyed your time here with us, Scotty. We only ask that you "beam us up" one last time. StarTrek.com.my salutes a passing of the greatest engineer in Starfleet."